numbers show these underwater creatures show large crowds, draw 1.4 million visitors to the state. and helps maintain 333 jobs. >> it helps us to understand the impact we're making to the community. >> reporter: this comes as they received a nonprofit grant from the state. >> the $2.5 million that the state made available to us to help support that project was very, very important. to us, remaining vital and relevant, really providing new things for our visitors. >> reporter: the report also shows that people who come to the national aquarium annually, more than half of them are from out of state. >> what does that mean for in immediaters? how do they benefit? >> because people are coming from out of town, money that they spend else where, they're spending here. everyone from maryland benefit from that. >> reporter: translation, they spend on food, lodging, transportation. money funneled back into our own city, our very own backyard. >> reporter: and because there's been so many out-of- towners in the last few years, they have been able to bring back a program that gives discounted